THE NATIONAL

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The chorus rules all. The songs that capture the public imagination repeat with vengeance, feeding the human mind's taste for predictability. And they all shall be ‘Joyful Captives’ By SAM PFEIFLE | January 18, 2013

Outside their rehearsal space, Mean Creek are standing with their hands in their pockets, excited to dig into some discussion about their anticipated new record, Youth Companion . By JONATHAN DONALDSON | October 12, 2012

The bills, designed to choke off online piracy of movies, music, and pharmaceuticals, seemed greased for passage. A coalition of net natives crossed political lines to decapitate SOPA and PIPA. Is this the beginning of a new American politics? By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | June 01, 2012

Had Tarsem Singh given his dwarves names that described his film they might be: Ugly, Creepy, Murky, Listless, Pathological, Sadistic, and Inane. The least magical adaptation of a fairy tale ever made By PETER KEOUGH | April 06, 2012

Like its four-armed Tharks and its ten-legged Calot, this adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs's series of sci-fi novels has too many moving parts for its own good. Too many moving parts By PETER KEOUGH | March 09, 2012

Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston star as an unemployed New York couple who, while on the road, chance upon a commune and decide to try the make-love-not-money lifestyle. Goofy gags By BETSY SHERMAN | March 02, 2012

Tyler Perry is no Douglas Sirk. In his latest melodrama, his uptight exec, San Francisco software company CEO Wesley Deeds, is no Madea, either. Hell, Deeds doesn't even know who he is himself. Perry's latest melodrama By BRETT MICHEL | March 02, 2012

Lovely to look at despite the 3D, and sometimes bordering on the psychedelic, this crack-brained morality tale blends the sublimely weird and the cloyingly awful as it preaches once again the paradox that you should be true to yourself as long as you a Crack-brained morality tale By PETER KEOUGH | November 18, 2011

Cancer seems to be the breakout star of indie films this season. In Jonathan Segal's Norman , it gets its hands on the title character's father and is the catalyst for his emotional turmoil and social alienation, though you get the feeling he was never Suburban settings By NINA MASHUROVA | October 21, 2011

If Rod Lurie's errant remake of Straw Dogs didn't tickle your morbid fear of home invasion, then perhaps the latest from Joel Schumacher ( Falling Down ) might do the job. Home invasion By TOM MEEK | October 14, 2011

The National seem to be among the ranks of Bon Iver, Adele, and TV on the Radio as some of the fresh-faced replacements for tired cranks like Sting, Billy Joel, and the Eagles when it comes to the music Baby Boomers and — now Gen-Xers — are latching on Elder statesman By MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | September 09, 2011

Officially, the final lunar manned launch was Apollo 17 in 1972. But what if there was another, secret one, and footage from it was "found" somewhere? López-Gallego's inert thriller By PETER KEOUGH | September 09, 2011

Homeless and bounced from one sister's house to the next, will Ned and his simplicity serve as a touchstone of truth for these miserable women? Jesse Peretz's obnoxious comedy By PETER KEOUGH | August 26, 2011

Genre predictions are dumb, but there is one thing absolutely certain in music: rock music is dead, and the era of electronic dominance is finally here. Beats happening By LUKE O'NEIL | August 19, 2011

As it turns out, according to Tate Taylor's adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's bestseller, the Jim Crow era was not due to centuries of institutionalized racism, but to Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard) and her hang-up about "colored" servants going to Steel Magnolias version of the civil rights movement By PETER KEOUGH | August 12, 2011

Original Plumbing, the New York–based quarterly lifestyle magazine and Web site for trans men and their friends, returns to the Midway this Friday for a queer/trans dance party featuring go-go boys, a photo booth, DJs D'hana and Justincredible, and a mi Trans Dance Dept. By THOMAS PAGE MCBEE | August 12, 2011

Nick ( Jesse Eisenberg), a pizza delivery guy, rips off some adolescents — boys from the same demographic the movie is pitched to — promising them something fun and illicit and then just taking their money. You kids about to pay 10 bucks to see this, ta Offensive but unfunny comedy By PETER KEOUGH | August 12, 2011

The United States was only hours away from joining in the international community of deadbeats and bunko artists — think Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Portugal — when President Barack Obama signed the legislation raising the national debt ceiling and cu Plus, what does congressman Bill Keating have against Cuban families? By EDITORIAL | August 05, 2011

Local viewers might be amused by director Frank Coraci's Boston geography in this slapdash comedy; for example, taking a right turn on Queensberry onto Storrow Drive and then over the Zakim Bridge en route to the airport. Makes as much sense as the plot Slapdash comedy By PETER KEOUGH | July 15, 2011

The acclaimed folk/Americana quartet resume the whirlwind promo stretch leading up to their third full-length release, following 2008’s critically-lauded breakthrough Oh My God, Charlie Darwin and their ’07 debut, What the Crow Brings . Last year, the Low Anthem finished their third album and toured the world. During a freewheeling interview back home, they tell us all about it By CHRIS CONTI | February 18, 2011

The remarkable thing about the American middle class is that we still have one, given the job losses, housing bust, and 401(k) wipeout of the past three years — and considering that for 35 years, politicians (and the bankers who own them) have been ham First they came for your paycheck. Then your house. What's next? By JAMES K. GALBRAITH | January 07, 2011